Existing electronic equipment cabinets generally employ forced air convection cooling of electronic modules mounted in chassis within the cabinet. Also, most prior art cabinet and chassis configurations utilize vertical electronic module orientation with cooling air circulating in either a front-to-back or back-to-front pattern over the electronic modules. This configuration has the disadvantage of discharging hot exhaust air to either the front or rear of a cabinet and thereby impinging upon system personnel or cables connected to the cabinet. The hot exhaust air can be uncomfortable for system personnel and can cause degradation of cables over time. As processor speeds increase and electronic-modules generate more thermal energy, prior art configurations and methods of cooling electronic modules and their cabinets will become inadequate. In fact, the additional heat generated by the higher-powered electronic modules can become intolerable to system personnel required to maintain the electronic equipment and systems and can hasten degradation of interconnecting cables.
Accordingly, there is a significant need for an apparatus and method that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art outlined above.